


We´re not really switching bodies, Mark

by JustWannaSayThanxx



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Body Swap, Canon Compliant, Eventual Happy Ending, Exhaustion, Gen, Inspired by Freaky Handshake, Johnny has a sasaeng/stalker, Johnny isn´t always strong, Johnny tries to be a good friend, Light Angst, Mark Lee is exhausted, Mark Lee swears once, Mark finds out the truth, Mark tries to be a good friend, Maybe one day things will be truely alright, My missing puzzle piece is a beta reader, Platonic Relationships, Switching bodies, exept the body swap i guess, headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26231380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustWannaSayThanxx/pseuds/JustWannaSayThanxx
Summary: Drowsily he stood up from the bed, walking over to the closet, intending to borrow a shirt for the day. He had just opened it when something caught his attention from the corner of his eyes.Inside the reflection of the mirror installed on the closet doors, he saw…Johnny? Wait, what? How? Johnny wasn´t even inside the room.He stared at himself. At Johnny? When he brushed back his now brown hair. The Johnny in the mirror did the same thing.What the... Had they really switched bodies?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 95





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place on **April 8th 2020**  
>   
>  Everything happening in this story is made up.  
>   
> Things that happened on April 7th 2020:  
> \- Making a Mini Movie with MK | Johnny’s Communication Center (JCC) Ep.18  
> \- Welcome to Our Indoor Camping Tent ⛺️| Johnny’s Communication Center (JCC) Ep.19  
> \- Freaky Handshake (2020)  
> \- Vlive: Crash Landing on Johnny and Mark

“Hyung, it´s time to wake up.”

“Five more minutes please, Donghyuckie,” Mark murmured, not able to keep his eyes open for more than a second. He felt tired. The exhaustion clung to him like Haechan sometimes liked to do. The younger boy could be exhausting at times, but everybody endured his behaviour and even encouraged it. The provided skin ship being a welcome distraction for them.

Yesterday had been jam-packed with many different activities, there had been no time to rest. There had been no real breaks in a long period. Four years and counting...

Idol life was never filled with sparkles and makeup. No, it always was and always will be stressful and exhausting.

Staying awake until the early hours of the morning to practice. Working and training every day of the week. Attending all kinds of events, concerts, fan signs, fan meetings, award shows, interviews and more, no matter how one felt or how much one had slept the night before.

Constantly being in the public eye and being judged not as a person, a normal human, but with even higher standards. One wrong move, one wrong word on camera and the internet or the people, in general, would pick you apart as hungry birds do with a corpse.

Getting a camera shoved into your face no matter where you go. Even having people following you back to your only safe space. Waiting in front of your home like harpies staying there until late in the night just to see a bit of you. Getting your privacy invaded by them, getting called by those people no matter where you are and what you were doing.

Those things stack up over time and disrupt everyone´s sleep routine.

Especially these days Mark always went to sleep during the early hours of the morning. His schedule for the next few weeks was filled to the brim with many different preparations.

They had started to practice for the still not announced beyond live concerts with SuperM and NCT 127.

They were also working on finishing the repackage album for NCT 127.

The new songs for the SuperM album had just reached their hands. The guide versions were finally finished and now it was time for the members to record.

Time slipped through his fingers like sand nowadays… and Mark? He himself would be buried alive inside a shrinking hourglass. Underneath his responsibilities and the exhaustion that came with fulfilling what people expected from him.

* * *

First thing in the morning, he and Johnny had filmed a short movie together. The behind the scenes of this short film would become an episode of Johnny´s Communication Center. They captured the entire process. From finding an idea to filming it.

Soon after that, they had somehow managed to assemble the yellow tent, leaving the editors with enough footage to turn it into another episode of JCC and had participated in a live stream for an hour to communicate with their fans. Mark also had to attend another mind-numbing company meeting, which was more than 60 minutes long. An hour he could have used to catch up on some sleep.

Afterwards, he and the rest of NCT 127 had decided to eat dinner at one of their favoured restaurants. A small fried chicken restaurant far enough away from the buzzing streets of Seoul to keep away their fans and other not quite as welcome faces. It took them some time to convince their managers, but they did it someway.

Did they all beg for it down on their knees? Did Johnny glare at them intimidatingly? Did Haechan and Mark use aegyo? Did Taeil use his voice of reason? Or did Taeyong use his authority as the leader?

Nobody knows.

Four hours, a large quantity of fried chicken, more empty beer bottles than Mark would have liked and an embarrassing showcase of Johnny´s movie idea later, they found themselves inside the van on their way back to the dorm.

Their managers had driven them to the restaurant and picked them back up to drive them home through Seoul´s night traffic.

Mark´s head was buzzing to an intolerable extend, probably from the alcohol he had consumed. He had already lost his footing once when he had wanted to enter the vehicle and was now leaning on one of his members' shoulders. His mind was now barely recognizing the people around him, they were chattering cheerfully with each other and when his eyes finally closed shut. He fell asleep effortlessly.

* * *

“Are you… alright,” Haechan ultimately agreed but not without hesitating for a short time.

It felt as if only a moment had gone by when Mark was once again woken from his dreams. In reality, more than half an hour had passed already.

“Hyung, you really need to get moving,” Mark heard Haechan´s voice right next to him, clearly intending on annoying him out of bed.

“Five more minutes,” Mark grumbled, his voice lower from sleeping, as he attempted to pull his blanket over his head.

“No! I already gave you more than five minutes, Johnny-hyung! What is wrong with you today? Normally you wake up earlier than this,” complained Haechan, yanking the blanket away. The cold air rushed over Mark and clung to his body. He shivered, goosebumps appearing on his arms and legs. Why did Haechan have to steal his warm blanket?

Why did something seem so… off? Why would he think like this? Why was it so hard for him to formulate a coherent thought in the morning? Rubbing his forehead, he grimaced, before realizing it.

“Wait a moment… What did you just call me?” Why was Haechan calling him Johnny? Was this a prank? Did Haechan think this would be a fun idea? And why was it so similar to the sketch he and Johnny had shown the members yesterday evening? Maybe the movie idea was haunting him?

Since the confusion filling his thoughts was reluctant to leave, Mark abruptly sat up on the bed. What the? As he opened his eyes, Mark came to an important realization. This was not his bed and most certainly not his room. He was sure of that at least. Nonetheless, he recognized the place and that bothered him immensely.

Inside the room were two beds standing next to each other, headboards against the wall. The single window was almost entirely covered by a white curtain, only allowing minimal sunlight inside. In front of it stood a desk with a complete setup for a gaming computer installed on it. A laptop was lying on the floor next to the desk. On the opposite wall of the beds were spacious closets, which were covering the whole wall. This was Haechan´s and Johnny´s room.

A place he visited quite regularly, even though his room was on a different floor. Sometimes even at nighttime if he had trouble sleeping. Haechan was awake most of the times he found himself there, playing video games until the early hours of the morning.

He did, however, not remember leaving his bed to sleepover in their room. In Johnny´s bed. Maybe he had forgotten it already. The alcohol he drunk yesterday could have messed with his memories. But at least he did not feel as hungover as he normally did after a night out. That was good right? Drowsily he stood up from the bed, walking over to the closet, intending to borrow a shirt for the day. He had just opened it when something caught his attention from the corner of his eyes. Inside the reflection of the mirror installed on the closet doors, he saw…

Johnny? Wait, what? How? Johnny wasn´t even inside the room.

He stared at himself. At Johnny? When he brushed back his now brown hair. The Johnny in the mirror did the same thing. He was in … Johnny´s body? Wait what!? He really was Johnny? He had changed bodies with Johnny. Where… Where was Johnny!? Was he in Mark´s body!? Before he managed to pull Johnny´s nightshirt over his head, Haechan finally spoke up once again.

“Johnny-hyung. What else would I call you.” The younger was already dressed and now resting in the blue gaming chair in front of the computer. “I can´t just drop the honorifics when talking to you.”

Snap out of it! Mark! This was not a joke; this was as real as it could get. He was without any doubt in Johnny´s body and there was nothing that would change that at the moment. Haechan gazed at him with an analytic look. Mark blinked and shook his head in order to return to the situation on hand. Okay, okay Minhyung, let´s to not create any further misunderstandings.

“No. You´re right. The use of honorifics is, of course, important. I´m going to get ready and wake up Mark.” That felt weird to Mark, to refer to Johnny as Mark. “He should still be asleep, right?” Mark questioned, finally grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, getting ready to enter the shared bathroom.

“Yeah, you know it, it´s way too hard to get him to wake up. Kind of like me. Today Haechanie was awake earlier than even you, Hyung,” said Haechan, his voice overly sweet.

“Stop speaking in the third person, Haechan,” Mark reprimanded him, cringing at the intentional usage of aegyo. Haechan smirked. He was doing this on purpose. He clearly enjoyed making the other uncomfortable.

“Haechanie does what he wants. Haechanie even stayed awake until 2 am like he usually does. I guess, Haechanie can ‘mark’ that as an achievement in his timeline.”

As Mark pulled the bathroom door shut and locked it from the inside, Haechan turned his head in an inquisitive way. His eyes did not leave the door for some time before he spun around on his chair, talking quietly to himself.

“Well, that was certainly something. Someone woke up in a different mood today…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been in my drafts since April and I decided to post it now. Otherwise, it would never see the light of day.
> 
> If you find any grammatical mistakes help would be appreciated since English is not my first language. 
> 
> If you made it this far. Thank you for reading this.


	2. Chapter 2

Johnny´s sleep was disturbed by no one else but Mark. “Johnny-hyung. Wake up please! Hyung! Something weird has happened. We have to talk!”

“Hmmm… What is it?” Johnny slowly turned over in his bed. Not giving any more attention to Mark. The mattress under him was softer today. He would sleep for a few more minutes. Yes, that was what he needed more sleep.

Only moments later, Mark started shaking Johnny, in order to force him awake.

“Hyung! Open your eyes!” Mark´s voice was deeper than normal. Maybe it was because of the time? Most people sound different in the morning, don´t they?

“Mark, why are you awake before me? And why does your voice sound so different?” Johnny mumbled, still refusing to open his eyes. He propped himself up on the bed and opened his eyes slightly. He tried to focus on the alarm clock.

For some reason, it was out of focus, like a camera. What was wrong with his eyesight? He closed his eyes again and then it hit him out of the blue.

Pain.

He pressed a hand to his head. It hurt so much.

A throbbing pain inside his skull. Not dulling over time, nor wavering for a second.

“Hyung!!!” Mark insisted, tone rising to an almost unbearable level. The discomfort of having a person talk while his head felt like it was about to explode, forced Johnny to give up on sleeping any longer. What could possibly rile Mark up this early in the morning?

“Alright, alright I´m up-” He sat on the edge of the bed his feet on the floor. Johnny still held his head and forced his eyes open- “What is this?”

In front of Johnny stood Johnny? He himself or at least his body was looking down at himself.

“Mark? Dude, is that you?” His voice sounded wrong. Not a normal wrong either, not as it did on a recording, but like a totally different voice. Why was it so much higher than normal? Weird.

He stood up, increasing the pounding he felt in his head. He felt terrible.

“Yes, it´s me, Mark," The Johnny said in English, speaking in a similar manner as Mark, "Hyung, I think we like literally switched bodies.”

* * *

A few minutes later, Johnny was standing in front of a mirror, touching his face. No Mark´s face. A pair of glasses now sat on his nose, making everything finally appear clearly.

“No, that ca-n´t be possible,” Johnny´s voice, no Mark´s voice cracked. Mark´s wide eyes stared back at him. He winked and Mark winked back. Johnny turned around only to check once again. There was Johnny, his body at least, sitting on Mark´s bed.

“This situation is weird. Did we cause this? We didn´t shake hands, right?”

“I don´t think we did?” Mark voiced out his doubt.

“Could it be the chicken and the beer?” Johnny joked, eyes sparkling, his full attention on Mark.

Mark started to speak in English once again, slowly starting to freak out. Why was he so adorable?

“This would be a dream then? Like a weird food coma dream. But how could we know that? Could we check if this is a drea- Ah! Why did you pinch me?” Mark quickly pushed Johnny´s fingers away from his arm.

“You wanted to know if it was a dream. I helped you with that.” Johnny defended his action, raising his hands into the air.

“You didn´t have to pinch me that hard,” Mark grumbled with a pout on his lips, rubbing his arm.

Cute...

Get your head back in the game Youngho! Johnny licked over his dry lips and pushed his hair back.

“Well you were starting to ramble, and this was the easiest way to stop you. So? What are you gonna do? Sue me?” Johnny shrugged and stalked over to the closet. He was searching through it to find an outfit he deemed fashionable enough. Mark really needed to upgrade his wardrobe. Maybe someday he should help him with that. He grabbed a simple black shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Honestly, Hyung what are we going to do?” Mark was playing with his now large hands, Johnny´s hands.

Johnny quickly changed into the fresh clothes before deciding to answer Mark.

“Now we are going to get me some pain killers, this headache is seriously killing me. Afterwards, we try to find a temporary solution for the large predicament on our hands, Mark,” Johnny paused for a while before continuing. “We really switched bodies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was rather short in comparison to the first, but now the intro is finally over.
> 
> Thank you for reading this story. I really appreciate it.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hyung, my body is so light! Push-ups are so easy,” joked Mark, doing push-ups on the floor of the gym. The scene was awfully familiar to Johnny, reminding him of yesterday. He fought with himself to keep the smile off his lips. This wasn´t the time to joke around.

After Johnny and Mark had left Mark´s room and Johnny had swallowed his painkillers and drunken a cup of coffee, the two were driven to the company building. There the first thing on their schedule was Johnny´s workout. During their discussion, they concluded that they had no other choice than to live as the other person for today since nobody would believe that the two had actually exchanged bodies.

“Very funny Mark!”

Mark let himself break down on the floor unable to stop giggling. Johnny signed, dragging a hand through Mark´s hair, currently his hair. He was still feeling lightheaded but at least the medicine had started working. The aching pain in his skull was gone. However, the was something else bothering him.

He felt tired, even more than yesterday. He had gone to sleep shortly after midnight. Mark should have slept around the same time as he did. So why was Mark´s body so drained of energy? Was this how Mark felt every day? Johnny repressed the thought, looking down on Mark as Johnny on the floor.

“In about fifteen minutes my personal fitness trainer should be here. The session will be around an hour long. So, let´s meet at lunch to discuss the next-,” Johnny was prevented from finishing his sentence. The door of the gym was thrown open, inside the doorframe stood Jisung, his breath laboured.

“Hey Hyung! Have you seen Mark-hyung?” As Jisung collected his breath, both Mark and Johnny looked at him, Johnny´s body on the floor and Mark´s standing in the middle of the room. Once his breathing returned to normal he turned his focus away from his shoes. “There you are Mark-hyung. What are you doing at the gym? You normally don´t work out in the morning, or at all,” he questioned, unintentionally roasting Mark. Realizing his mistake, he bowed to him hiding his face in his hands. Even his ears were turning red.

“Jisungie, I had to talk with Johnny about…,” Johnny tried to answer his inquiry, searching for the right words. He struggled to find any and at the same time, he was trying to keep his face in check to not start laughing at Jisung´s roast.

“Anyways, come with me, we have a meeting to attend. You didn´t forget that, right Hyung?” Jisung asked, looking at him attentively. A meeting? What would they need to discuss with him? Mark wasn´t even a member of NCT Dream anymore. He had graduated two years ago after all.

“I remember that.” Johnny threw a questioning stare in Mark´s direction, who averted his eyes to the ground. He would have to question Mark about this later.

“Yeah, you should go with Jisung, Dude. I wouldn´t want you to be late for an important meeting,” Mark urged them to leave.

Why did Mark not tell him about this?

* * *

The first half of the conference went well. The official reveal of NCT Dream´s new comeback RELOAD really made Johnny´s day. Finally, some good news. Any kind of news could beat this morning, of waking up with a large headache and in the wrong body.

“Oh, how wonderful.” He beamed, ruffling the younger members hair and pinching Chenle´s cheeks.

They were taller than normal. Mark´s height made everything appear in an entirely different perspective. When Haechan grabbed him in a tight hold, hugging him, he didn´t flinch away and instead returned the hug. He intentionally ignored the click of a camera he heard and simply cuddled Haechan without any complaints. Why say no to a perfectly fine hug after all.

“Now for the actual news. As you remember we had long discussions about what happens after this last comeback of NCT Dream. After finally deciding on a solution a month ago, we now have a finished company statement which will be released on the 12th of April.” A manager pulled out a stack of papers, distributing them to everyone. It was an official SM statement. As Johnny read the announcement, he was shocked to the core. The answer as to why Mark had not informed him about the meeting, was written down in neat letters on the paper in front of him.

_Hello._

_This is SM Entertainment._

_NCT Dream’s future album promotions and team system will be newly reorganized._

_First of all, following the release of NCT Dream’s new album on April 29, after these album promotions, there will be a change in the system of the members graduating after becoming 20-years-old. The current members will not graduate, and including original member Mark, the seven members will carry out activities in a format like NCT U with the team name NCT Dream._

_Furthermore, NCT Dream’s Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung will join as members of new NCT teams that will be launched in the future based on the directions of their activities, and they will carry out global promotions._

_We express deep gratitude to the fans who show lots of support for NCT Dream, and we ask for continuous love and support for NCT Dream and the members._

_Thank you._

Johnny tried to gulp down the feelings of anger and disappointment going through his body after he finished reading the statement. Why did Mark not tell him about this change of events? The anger was replaced with worry when an entirely different thought crossed his mind. Is he supposed to debut again? How will he possibly be an active member of three or even four groups if NCT U was included?

“What do you think?” The staff member that lead the meeting asked, expecting Johnny to answer.

“It´s okay,” he straightened his clothes, placing his hands on the desk in front of him. Turning his head from one side to the other he analysed the whole room. Renjun and Chenle were playing around with the paper, folding it into various objects. Jeno was tapping his fingers on the table, intensely staring at the statement. Haechan was… Johnny was unsure what Haechan was doing. When he looked at him, he was glowering at the clock on the wall. Jisung appeared to attentively look at his materials, but Johnny could see his hand playing on his phone, which he hid under the table. Cheeky, but as long as he got away with it, it wasn´t Johnny´s place to stop him.

“Just, okay? Any changes you would like to make? Do you have something to add?” The manager sitting in the seat at the end of the table was eyeing him quite strictly. Hopefully, he wasn´t suspicious. A manager on his heels would be the last thing he needed right now. Johnny shook his head slightly.

“No, nothing.” His voice was practically inaudible. Johnny eyed the digital clock on the wall. He cleared his throat and continued. “Thank you for this opportunity. When is the official release date?” His stomach made itself know, reminding him of how lunch was close. He longed to simply stand up and leave the room, that was filled with a tense atmosphere.

At the same time, he did not look forward to his much-needed conversation with Mark.


	4. Chapter 4

Johnny entered the cafeteria at the busiest time of the day. People were standing in a line up to the entrance door. He leaned against the wall. He had no energy left for this... It would take forever to get food.

Today, however, he was lucky.

“Mark! Over here!” Johnny needed a moment to realize he was the one called. Looking over to where the voice came from, he saw himself. No Mark, calling him over waving his hands enthusiastically. Mark had thought about him, ordering Johnny a meal when he arrived earlier than normal.

A frown returned to his face and he quickly strode over to him, ignoring somebody calling his name as he walked by their table.

“Why didn´t you tell me?” Johnny asked impatiently. Mark had pulled out a chair next to him, making Johnny sit down.

“Remember your honorifics, Mark,” Mark admonished him with a hushed tone. This would take a while to get used to.

Mark in Johnny´s body telling Johnny in his body to call him, who was younger than him, Hyung.

“Hyung,” Johnny added quietly, dragging the word.

“Not now, Mark. We can talk about it later.”

“Hyung. Why?” Johnny looked up to Mark disappointment clearly to be seen in his eyes. Why would Mark not talk to him, now? This was important.

He looked around the room for a second. This was also the cafeteria. Maybe not the best place to talk about private matters.

“I said later. Now eat your food,” rejecting the start of a conversation, Mark redirected the attention to the food placed in front of them. The distinct smell of the kimchi filled his nose and Johnny´s stomach made itself know once more, grumbling loudly as he abruptly realized a seemingly unimportant fact. He had not eaten anything since switching bodies with Mark.

* * *

30 minutes later, the two met up inside an abandoned storage room.

“Mark, why didn´t you tell us. Why did you not tell me?” Johnny´s voice broke. “Are we not telling each other about important things like joining a new unit anymore?” Various signs showed his disappointment. Johnny´s presence, his speech, his eyes, and his stance occupied the whole room.

“Johnny-Hyung,” Mark sighed and looked down to him.

“I´m serious about this Mark. You may think that nothing will change. Things will work out as they always did. That everything will be normal and that you can handle things on your own. But that is not the case. You can´t continue dealing with issues this way,” Johnny voiced out his concerns.

“Seriously, I feel tired Mark. Not because you didn´t inform me about the news or that you refuse to ask for help. Not because of the mental stress caused by this body exchange.” Johnny stretched his arms over his, Mark´s small body. “No, this body. Your body feels tired. I feel as if I could fall asleep any minute now. My legs feel like I´ve walked miles with them and the headache I had this morning was the worst I´ve ever experienced. I´m being honest with you this is really not right. Is this how your body normally feels to you?”

Mark went quiet. He had started to play with his hands again, biting his lip in distress. He did not look at Johnny. The silence between them was broken by a shocking validation.

“Yes, Hyung,” he whispered, his voice breaking. Johnny´s heart sank at Mark´s admission.

Why didn´t he notice these things earlier? Did he behave this self-centred? Did he not see the younger struggle with his schedule? With his sleep? Why didn´t he decide to act earlier? Could he have helped Mark in any way? Maybe Mark wouldn´t have felt the need to stay quiet if he did?

"I... feel fine... most of the... time...," a mumble left Marks's lips.

“Mark don´t lie to me. Please not now. When was the last time you remember getting a good night of sleep?"

"..."

"Mark, please be honest"

"I... I don´t remember."

"You don´t remember?" The worry in Johnny's stomach started to rise again.

"No. Honestly Hyung. I don´t... know. The last few weeks were stressful." Mark raised his head and pushed his hair away from his face. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. He took a deep breath. "Fuck! Why can´t I.... I´m such a mess!"

Johnny stepped closer.

"Calm down Mark. You are not at fault. You shouldn´t have to overwork yourself that way.” Johnny stroked Mark´s back in a steady rhythm, intending to comfort the younger.

“It´s not like I have anything to say in this,” Mark defended himself. Johnny didn´t stop with his comforting backstrokes.

“I know that you don´t. Why are they pulling these idiotic moves? What in the world are they are thinking? How are you ever going to get time to take a break in your already filled to the brim schedule?” Johnny asked even though no answer could be found for the questions.

“I don´t know what to do," the youngers voice broke, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, "Hyung, I am sorry for not telling you about all of this.”

“I accept your apology. However, there is nothing you need to feel sorry for. Calm down. It´s okay.” Johnny took the younger now larger boy into his arms, hugging him gently. “Everything will be okay. Hyung is there for you. You can trust your Hyung with everything.” He would be there for him. No questions asked.

“I don´t want to be a burden to you or anyone.” This sentence alone broke Johnny´s heart. Not Mark. Mark would never be a burden to him. Not the person he considered to be his brother. His tiny or at the moment not so tiny little brother.

“You never were or will be a burden for me, you should know that Mark. You are a wonderful person. A younger brother, who I adore and would do anything for. So, trust me. Hyung will help you with this. But for that, you have to talk to me when problems arise. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. That´s okay,” Mark sniffles. “I will come to you when I have any trouble. I promise.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***Warning***  
>  If you are uncomfortable with the following do not read!
> 
> Mentions of a Stalker / Sasaeng, who:  
> \- writes Johnny creepy messages  
> \- calls Johnny  
> \- follows and takes photos of him on private schedules
> 
> This entire scenario is not based on real events. All of this is made up. I have no ill intent with this. Stalkers/Sasaengs are terrible people and should never be excused.
> 
> This was written before the "Vent" Twitter Blueroom Stalker photos. NCT has way too many stalkers, which really sucks. 
> 
> But since SM doesn´t do anything against them nothing will change any time soon.

Mark and Johnny spend twenty minutes talking quietly inside the abandoned room. Ignoring the people rushing about in the hallways. They were discussing dinner when a notification rang on Johnny´s iPhone.

Mark had pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Johnny.

It was a reminder. Mark in Johnny´s body had to leave for the next part of Johnny´s schedule, vocal lessons. Oh, how Mark hated vocal lessons with a passion. Hopefully, he would have Johnny´s vocal abilities since this was his body after all.

He could do this. Probably.

They exchanged their phones once again. Mark quickly put Johnny´s phone into his back pocket, grabbed his backpack and said goodbye, before leaving the room in a rush.

He sprinted along the hallway. On his way he scared an intern, making them drop their papers. After helping them back up, he rushed towards the practice room.

When Mark entered the room, it was empty. There were noise-cancelling panels installed on the walls to ensure a better sound quality inside. In one corner stood an electric piano and a guitar was leaning against the wall. A few tables and chairs were placed inside the room, Mark threw his backpack over the back of one of them.

He had made the decision to use his leftover time to prepare for the vocal lesson. Since Johnny´s voice was different from his own and he did not want to damage his vocal cords.

Mark started with some easy warm-up exercises and afterwards, he studied Johnny´s parts in their songs, which he thankfully had prepared inside his bag. He needed to familiarize himself with the lyrics and music to not make any mistakes in front of the teacher.

Mark had just finished revising punch when Johnny´s phone started to ring.

At the same moment, however, the vocal trainer pushed the door open. The heels of her shoes clicked against the floor as she entered the room with energetic steps. She was rather young, and her features were somewhat foreign.

Strange. Mark didn´t know that they had a foreign vocal coach on their team.

Mark rejected the call and stuffed the now silenced phone into his backpack.

The coach acknowledged his presence with a smile and placed the papers she was holding onto the table in front of her.

Mark greeted her politely, bowing to her. She shook her head, making her brightly coloured hair fly in all directions. Her lips pursed in disappointment, she told him off, reminding him to call her by her name. She questioned if they weren´t close enough to be at first name basis. This made Mark scratch his neck followed by a burst of awkward laughter leaving his mouth.

He shouldn´t talk informally to a teacher, right? He got scolded by some of his teachers before when he unintentionally talked to them informally. Maybe she allows it because she´s a foreigner? That must be the reason.

They managed to go through three songs before she spoke up. “Johnny, since you mentioned last time that you wanted to try something different-” She pulled out a different pack of sheet music- “I have brought a song with me for our practice.”

The first few verses of the song he sang perfectly, getting only praises from her. What Mark didn´t notice though was how distracted she was. He continued singing, reaching the chorus of the song. He was on a roll, his teacher, however, continued to look back at their watch over and over.

He finished the song and turned to look at her. She didn´t look up from her watch, her eyes hazy and spaced out. Mark cleared his throat, making her look up straightaway.

“I am so sorry, Johnny. Would you mind if we took a short break? I need to make a call,” she apologized almost immediately.

“I wouldn´t mind a break don´t worry. This seems to be important to you,” Mark sympathized with her.

“You´re so sweet. Thank you so much,” she expressed gratitude and rushed out of the room.

Mark was once again alone inside the room and quickly gulped down some water. That was what he needed.

Didn´t someone try to call him, well Johnny earlier? Maybe he should check who it was. Johnny could have tried to call him.

Mark walked over to his backpack and pulled out Johnny´s phone. He pressed the button and was bombarded with a filled screen. 12 missed calls. 24 new messages.

But Mark had no clue from who these messages were. He couldn´t read any of them from the lock screen. He swiped up from the bottom of the screen to the top like he had seen Johnny do when he wanted to unlock his phone.

On the screen appeared the words: Face ID and for a moment Mark doubted that the phone would unlock. But milliseconds later he was on the home screen. Johnny had a picture of his parents as his background. That´s not the reason you wanted to look at Johnny´s phone. Get back to work Minhyung!

Mark opened missed calls. It was always the same unknown number. Maybe a friend, whose number Johnny hadn´t saved.

Mark returned to the home screen after fumbling around with the phone for a bit. iPhones were supposed to be easy to control, right?

He opened Johnny´s kakaotalk and saw that Johnny had sent him a short message. He opened the chat and read the message.

[14:23] I have to practice with SuperM wish me luck. ;)

A smile appeared on Mark´s lips, hopefully, Johnny would manage on his own. He exited the chat and opened the one with 23 unread messages.

It was the same unknown number as the caller. As Mark scrolled down and read the messages his face paled drastically.

* * *

***Warning** **starts here***

* * *

8th April

[14:06] Why did you reject my call?

[14:07] You aren´t answering.  
[14:07] This makes me really sad you know?

[14:08] Maybe you just pressed the wrong button on accident.  
[14:08] I´m sure you wouldn´t do something like this on purpose. Right?

[14:09] Why didn´t you answer any of my calls?  
[14:09] Did you do that on purpose? Is that really all I am to you?

[14:10] You know that I love you right?  
[14:10] Changing your number won´t work anymore.  
[14:10] I miss you.

[14:12] Why aren´t you answering me?  
[14:12] You have nothing special on your schedule today.

[14:13] I would know if you did. So why are you ignoring me?

[14:17] Well if you won´t answer here is some food for your thoughts.

[14:18] * A picture of Johnny from yesterday inside the restaurant.*  
[14:18] * A picture of Johnny drinking a beer.*  
[14:18] * A picture of Johnny stumbling out of the restaurant.*

[14:19] Don´t worry I was the only one there.

[14:20] Sometimes I wonder what you would do without me there to protect you.

[14:21] I´ll always be by your side.  
[14:21] It doesn´t matter that you try to avoid me.

[14:22] I love you. You won´t tell anyone. I am sure you won´t.

[14:23] Kisses 333

* * *

Mark could not believe his eyes. Johnny never said anything about a stalker. Most of them had dealt with problems caused by fans, no people who took it to far. But nothing Johnny did made the others even the slightest bit suspicious.

Frantically he scrolled through the messages. This wasn´t the first time she contacted him. Some messages were over a month old. Didn´t Johnny change his phone number about a month ago?

This explained everything. Johnny had changed his number at least once every month for over a year now.

Oh no. Why didn´t he or the others notice that something was off? This wasn´t the first time a stalker tried to contact them through their phone after all.

Mark continued to read through the messages, trying his best to push aside the guilt for not noticing anything and for reading through the messages without permission.

* * *

When the teacher returned to the room with a smile on her face, he turned off the phone in an instant, trying to distract himself from the thoughts inside his head.

“Now let´s resume with our lesson. I need you to watch out for your breathing Johnny. If you continue like this, you will most likely be out of breath in the middle of a performance.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***Warning***
> 
> Mark confronts Johnny about his stalker. Johnny facade breaks.

When Mark entered the practice room, he could not bear to look at Johnny. Almost the entire time of the dance practice he was actively ignoring him. Or at least trying to do so. He did his best to process the things he learned during the vocal lessons, at the same time giving his best at dancing Johnny´s parts.

He wasn´t doing that well.

How could something like this happen to the strong and charismatic Johnny? His Hyung, who stood tall amongst all of them and unmoving against seemingly everything. Always a smile on his lips and pulling people into a comforting hug if needed.

How long had this been going on? How far had she, he found himself shuddering at the mere thought of her, gone?

What did she send him before? Did she threaten him? Was this the reason Johnny never told anybody about his problems? Why would someone do something like this?

He was ripped from his thoughts by Taeyong. He alerted them to start over since the trainers were openly unhappy with their performance. Taeyong reprimanded Mark and Johnny the most. They were not reaching the expected standards.

Mark gave his best to get his mind back into the game. He stopped thinking about anything and simply fell into the rhythm of the song, which was supported by Taeyong´s rhythmic shouts.

* * *

Time went by fast. They danced and practised until it was time for the small break, that had been established over the years.

Mark was way less exhausted than normal. He blamed Johnny´s stamina and fitness training. That was clearly the reason. Normally he would feel like he had died twice when it was time for the break.

Finally, he got a grip on himself and decided to corner Johnny in the bathroom, after making sure no one was still inside.

* * *

“Johnny-hyung. We need to talk.”

“What is it that you want to talk about Mark?”

“Something… How can I say this? It´s… I… I got a call.... and messages.... from an unknown number,” Mark struggled with the word, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He looked at Johnny to take in his reaction.

Johnny froze in his position, his eyes widening.

“Hyung. For how long has this been happening? Like is this, just something that started recently?” Mark voiced out his thoughts, his eyes widening anxiously.

“I-,” Johnny gulps, he started trembling, “I hoped she would stop if I didn´t react to it.”

Johnny looks smaller than ever before. Marks body frame and the loose shirt Johnny was wearing, did not help. He looked up to Mark, his eyes focusing on his face.

“Did she? Did she send pictures again?” he whispered, his voice weak, he was shaking quite severely.

“She did… so please Hyung.” Mark moved closer to Johnny, reaching for him with his palms open to not appear threatening. “We have to tell upper management. They must know something about her. Maybe we could even put a restraining order on her,” he added, slowly placing a hand on Johnny´s shoulder, “We have to try.”

“I can´t.” Tears started to form in Johnny´s eyes. “Mark don´t you understand. No one will believe it. She is rich. Way too rich. She is from an old-money family. No one will trust my word. She somehow managed to enter almost every event we have had in the last year. How would anyone believe such a ridiculous claim? Against her? No one knows what she is doing.” Johnny’s desperation was visible on his face, he was shivering and his eyes were wide open, staring into nothingness. “And even if they do believe me. What could they do? Against her?” 

“What is going on in here?” Taeyong appeared through the bathroom door.

Johnny pulled away from Mark and gripped onto the bathroom sink to brace himself for the scolding about to descend onto him and Mark.

“I would normally let you guys sort this out on your own. But whatever is wrong between you guys is affecting us all. Mark hasn´t been like himself today during the dance practice with SuperM. He was messing up the dance moves way too often. We had to stop the practice because of him. He made none of these mistakes yesterday. This doesn´t make any sense.”

Mark eyed Johnny, who was clearly embarrassed and distressed. “And now during this dance practice, neither one of you seems to be trying. What is going on today?” He sighed deeply.

“Johnny, I expected you to do better.” Taeyong rubs his brow, a concerned look on his face. “I really need you guys to get a grip on yourself. Thankfully we are finished with almost everything on today’s schedule. You´re lucky I could get permission from the Managers to send you home and this is what is happening now. You two are going home and you are going to solve whatever this is. Am I understood?” Taeyong asked he was in full leader mode right now, his voice allowing no disagreement or any talking back to him.

“Yeah, Hyung” Mark murmured, he really wished he could disappear into the ground.

“Yes, I understand” Johnny obeyed, his head hanging low.


	7. Chapter 7

The drive back to the dorm they spend in silence. The manager dropped them off at the front door and waited for them to enter.

Even inside the dorm, the silence continued until Mark decided to break it.

“We have been together for what now? 8 years? We are what did we call it, the foreign swaggers?” Mark had sat down on the couch next to Johnny, staring at his own form, hidden underneath heaps of blankets and cushions, nothing of him sticking out since his legs for once weren´t too long. Johnny concealed from view, had wrapped his arms around himself.

“Yeah,” he agreed in between his almost silent sobbing.

“You´ve been like a big brother for us for so many years, let me carry some of your troubles. Even if we can´t do anything right now. I´ll tell you something.” Mark reached for Johnny´s hand, holding onto it in a soothing fashion. “Once we are like back in our own bodies, we can work on our different problems together. Okay?”

“Alright...” Silent tears continued to stream down Johnny´s face, hidden from sight.

“Thank you, Mark-” Johnny´s voice broke once again as he appeared from underneath the blankets, gazing tearfully at the real Mark.

“Now I think the best thing we can do like right now is distracting ourselves from reality.” Mark´s lips, or in this case Johnny´s showcased a wide grin. It was forced to a certain degree but that didn´t matter. “How about something less exciting?”

A small smile returned to Johnny´s face and ignoring the tears rolling down his face he answered. “Wanna watch a movie?”

* * *

“Mark, we´re back,” Johnny cheered, shaking Mark awake.

They had fallen asleep during their movie marathon. “Hey dude, I have an idea what to call the mini-movie now,” Johnny had exclaimed in the middle of one movie. Mark had hummed and encouraged Johnny to talk with a nod. “I´m naming it, Freaky Handshake.”

“What kind of name is that? Like Freaky Friday or what?”

“It is the perfect name!” He had shouted defensively, almost attacking Mark with a pillow. “I´m sure it will win many trophies,” Johnny added jokingly.

“You´re an idiot,” Mark had muttered, shaking his head in defeat. He was not looking up. A clear mistake on his part.

“I´m a genius!” The pillow Johnny had thrown after saying that, hit Mark straight in the face and started a pillow fight between the two of them. The living room was a mess, pillows lying all over the place, an empty popcorn bowl located underneath the table and on top of it the leftover Chinese take-out food they had ordered. Shortly after the end of the pillow fight, sleep had finally managed to catch up to them, forcing them into dreamland.

“Oh. Thank god, you´re right. I´m like quite sure I would not have survived another one of your workout sessions.”

The two broke out into laughter, the situation appearing so absurd when they tried to think about it. Mark and Johnny were flailing around on the couch, not even trying to calm their excitement. They were so relieved about the switch. Finally, they were back in their own body. The one they were used to.

“Though I will certainly miss being so tall,” Mark admitted, and Johnny stared down at him for a second, smirking lightly. “Hey don´t judge me!”

“I will judge you and I can do that because, … What was the saying again. You can´t understand someone until you´ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Johnny smirked mischievously and Mark could only shake his head in disbelief. “And I walked more than a mile in your small and tiny shoes.”

Haechan came into the room, looking at the two giggling for some time before asking his questions. “Hey, Hyungs? Are you back to being normal again? Because that was kind of freaky.”

“Wait- You- what? knew?” Their words mixed themselves as both were perplexed by this revelation. Nobody else had noticed that the two had switched bodies.

Haechan began to laugh out loud, taking a deep breath in order to resume talking. “You two are terrible actors. There´s only one person who would call me Donghyuck and the real Mark would never accept hugs so easily. Thanks for Johnny-hyung I now have proof that Mark-hyung likes hugs.” Haechan held out his phone, his lock screen lighting up revealing a picture of Mark hugging him. It was Johnny in Marks body wearing today´s well yesterday´s clothes.

“Yah, delete that like right now.” Mark´s face displayed a disgruntled look.

“Never!!!” Haechan hollered as he ran out of the room. Mark jumped up from his seat and hurried after him, leaving a giggling Johnny behind on the couch.

“Yo, get back here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this. Please let me know if you like it.  
> That this work has over 800 hits really surprises me. I did not think many people would be interested in this topic. 
> 
> I guess this is my lockdown fanfiction since I did start working on it back in April. I didn´t plan on showing it to people, but here we are.
> 
> Anyways, thanks again for reading and if you find any grammatical mistakes, please let me know about them. Since I had no beta and I am not a native English speaker.
> 
> Stay safe everyone!
> 
> (I might write a small bonus chapter about Johnny during SuperM dance practice if I find more inspiration.)


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